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Meet the Press
February 22, 2015

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Meet the Press
February 22, 2015

This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>us iran relations
reached a new level late friday when news bropke that the newly elected
iranian president
hassan rouhani and
president obama
spoke by phone it was the first conversation between the leaders of the countries in over thirty years. i reiterated to president
rowhani
what i said in new york, while there will surely be important obstacles to moving forward and success is by no means guaranteed, i believe we can reach a comprehensive solution.

>>so what is behind the recent actions of the
iranian president
? joining me now, our chief
foreign affairs
correspondent,
andrea mitchell
, and former adviser to
president obama
on
arms control
and wmd, one of the few who met with
rowhani
while he was in new york, welcome to both of you, what i am fascinated by, what brought you to this moment?

>>i think the answer is very simple, it is pressure, the
economic sanctions
imposed, started by
president bush
and strengthened by
president obama
has been sufficient to force the iranians to seek a deal so they can get relief from sanctions.

>>but how do we get from there to here?

>>that is a big question, i was at a small gathering with
rowhani
, it is very clear they're concerned about the bank situation. he is a politician, he was elected with the mandate to be moderate. he got 51% of the vote. his closest competitor got 16%, he was greeted back in tehran with crowds of demonstrators, supporters but also protesters. the fact that the mullahs allowed them to go to the airport, they even threw a shoe, but he has explained very ably, will they give up the real stuff? and that is a very heavy price for them. they have spent billions on it. and right now, israel is complaining, and netanyahu is coming tomorrow, israel is concerned they are building a
heavy water reactor
, which can create plutonium --

>>just to be really -- they have three facilities that can produce the stuff to build the bomb.

>>that we know of.

>>that we know of. now, you only need a certain percentage to have
energy use
. they're above that. and the fear is they can what is called "break out," they can get to that
nuclear weapon
real fast. so how do you prevent that from happening and believe in a deal?

>>well, as a condition for lifting sanctions, i think the u.s. and its allies will demand that
iran
accept physical limits on the nuclear capacity, in terms of size and strength and the enrichment program.

>>but haven't we had requirements in place before? rigorous inspections?

>>this goes beyond inspections, monitoring is very important to be sure the iranians don't cheat, especially given their history of cheating. i think their physical limitations, so they don't have the capacity to break out quickly, so far,
rowhani
has not indicated any willingness to accept those issues.

>>and they prop up the assad regime, they fortify the hezbollah, the
iranian revolutionary guard
has a stronghold in iraq throughout the region, they're terrified of the goals of
iran
at this point. that is the over view, how do you navigate that?

>>well, that is the overview, but the war, potentially, the whole region could change if this were there work. if this works, then syria becomes at least more viable as a political solution in geneva, if the hezbollah and the iranian arms are not going to prop up assad. and then russia becomes a partner, we let them into the
middle east
, which is dangerous, but now there is a way in the u.n. of monitoring things, afghanistan as you mentioned.
iran
has been such a trouble maker in both of those places. if this economic pressure has been profound enough and you have 30% -- rather 60% of the iranian population under 30, this is the mandate he has, a short window. if this were to work, then perhaps
saudi arabia
and the
gulf states
would see the benef benefit, because they and the israelis are very conservative.